Oklahoma State (oSu) will remind you a lot of Nikegon. Travis Ford is an excellent coach, and he is now putting together a bunch of frosh, JUCOs and transfers in order to keep his system running. Gone are Smart and Brown. That’s the good news. But there remains a good core for Ford to work with while keeping his aggressive offense going.

While Smart was there, nobody outside Stillwater talked about his old high school teammate, Phil Forte III. He’s a diminutive PG who I think is a better perimeter defender than Smart but never got to defend the handle because Smart was on the floor. But now he’s showing some great on-ball defensive skills outside. But Forte has also managed to score in double figures for the whole of his career. And his shot selection has improved with experience. He’s a savvy handle who can break down lanes and get to the line. He’s not a great facilitator, but he does manage the game well.

Le’Bryan Nash is the scoring heir now that Smart is gone. He’s a long 6’7″ swing who can hit from outside or bang down low. He also has a knack for getting to the line. And he shoots well from there. He will likely be the most trouble for the Beavs tonight because of his versatility.

Michael Cobbins is the returning big of the group. He doesn’t have any special hands or feet. But he is a physical defender and doesn’t make many mistakes on the offensive end. He can score on put-backs against zones, but he is the glue guy in the post for this team.

Leyton Hammonds is the other returnee of note, but he will be out with a sprained ankle.

Hammonds would be the trey shooter on this team, but expect frosh Jeffrey Carroll to step into that role. He’s a rangy swing who will probably remind you of our own Mr. Robbins.

While Cobbins is the glue guy, oSu does have a 7’0″ JUCO transfer in the form of Anthony Allen Jr. He’s not the best looking kid, and he looks like he has a mean streak. But he can be skilled when disciplined. And he can eat up the defensive glass.

And an LSU transfer, Anthony Hickey Jr., is another diminutive guard who seems to be content as the facilitator in the back court. But he can be called upon to make some timely shots.

Beyond that, expect to see another rangy frosh swing in Tavarius Shine (cool name) and a plodding frosh big in Mitchell Solomon.

Ford plays a tough, aggressive defense which varies between man and zone depending on match-ups and game flow. It’s not terribly effective as a defense in itself so much as it’s a part of an aggressive offensive mind-set. The Pokes will get out and run if you let them do so.

The offense is a varied motion with either the double post set or an overload with a ton of flex screens. Most of the offense is predicated on getting Nash and Forte open looks or in advantageous positions where they can draw fouls and get to the line. But, as with any motion, there are second and third options when the first breaks down. It will be key for the Beavs to shut down passing lanes first then key in on individual defenses. If the offense can’t get to Nash and Forte, the offense can’t go through Nash and Forte.

It may be advantageous that Tinkle’s era has only just begun in that Ford won’t know how to attack the amoeba, if that’s the way the Beavs defend. But I doubt it. Ford is a good coach. It would be more likely his team simply is too new together and might make mistakes in our favor. But with a decent core, that’s not likely either.

The Beavs will just have to make shots in this one. If we’re not 75+, then we will have had to play a monumental defensive game to show a W at the end of the night.

What I like about the Beavs right now is good D and no one player to key in on on offense. All the offensive players are equally able to score for the most part. I notice that teams who run an offense through one guy never gel or look like a real team. Getting everyone involved creates a synergy where the whole > sum, and that’s only possible when everyone is an equal threat. This is one thing I think the Beavs have going for them. I’m expecting loses as they get into better teams here, but you can tell they’ll likely play cohesive and sound fundamentals even in defeat. That is refreshing alone. Now if they win all the better…big fan of Tinkle so far.

I would take us ATP… except that a four point game can turn into a 13 point game with all the fouls that would take place in the last minute plus some scrub bencher dropping a trey at the buzzer because he can.

The guy I’ve been the most pleasantly surprised with is GPII. I realize he hasn’t faced great competition yet but so far he’s looked the part of a legit PAC 12 guard. He could be a great piece to have on next year’s team with all the young talent arriving.

1. The game is close, despite good or bad shots (making or missing… not good or bad shot selection) since it’s a neutral court, in the first half. Then one team makes good adjustments which the other team can’t handle in the second half and makes it a double-digit game to the end.

2. The game is up and down in the first half but close on the scoreboard at the break. It will continue this way until one team takes advantage of some foul trouble or poor play and runs it out.

3. The game is physical and called tight, leading to a head-scratcher either way.

4. One team exerts dominance from the beginning and leads from pole to to flag.

#1 is most likely with a lean toward oSu. Tinkle has shown great adjustments, but experience gets our boys all wide-eyed.

#2 is also likely since it’s a neutral court. This could just be an ugly game where the team who is most comfortable will just play out a win.

#3 isn’t likely unless I see one or more of three certain Pac 12 refs on the floor. If I do, then all bets are off.

#4 can be done, but I don’t expect it this early in the season from either team without a complete breakdown from the other.

To call what Nikegon calls the Pit “obnoxious” is an offense to the word obnoxious.

It’s also funny that they call themselves the Pit, since Mac Court is only known as that here in Eugene. The Pit is UNM… everywhere anyone who knows anything about hoops is concerned. They will never market themselves into that one.

It’s almost like the great game against Rice did more harm than good. This Beaver team is going to have to make 90% of it’s lay ups. They can’t afford WTF shit around the basket this year, like the Reid layup we just witnessed. Explode and jam it man!

I am at the game – sitting at the Oregon State basket and what immediately comes to mind is how opposite of a coach Tinkle is than Riley. Wayne constantly is challenging his players and motivating them to do more.

They think there’s humor to be had with our struggles. If they’re honest, so be it. But humor (or… non-humor which passes for Duck humor almost all the time… and would mold in reality) might be relative.

I mean, I can go on one of their sites right now and pretend to be Rich Brooks. Or I can go on and pretend I’m fashizzle from tha hizzle.

Yeah, I don’t usually complain but this pisses me off. The Beavs have outplayed the Cowboys for the most part. They deserve better. I’m not sure how good Ok st will be in their league, but the Beavs look fine against them.

That was a sick tip dunk by Robbins and a clear goaltend by Cobbins, those 4 points are way too important right now. Otherwise, some poo poo play by Reid. Like he just dribbles off his own knee? Seriously? oSu’s press is killing them. And Duvivier has just thrown it to the other team multiple times. Gomis is fouling the shooter a ton.

Overall, I’m certainly having fun watching them play however of all these things.

I think they will win atleast 3 Pac-12 games. Probably 4. Defense wasn’t quite as on for all 40 minutes tonight but good teams don’t make it easy. They will probably make atleast half of their Pac-12 games interesting where they have a chance to win.

I think the play will be a lot different late in the season. What we are seeing now is a lot of growing pains and learning curve. That we are already playing tough D is a a tribute to hard work and the coaches.

They could surprise, which wouldn’t shock me with the way they’ve played, but until they get the kinks worked out, this would be my estimate. Definitely can’t afford injuries, suspensions this year, but I do think they are capable of pulling some rabbits out of the hat if they can fix what Tinkle says they need to work on. This team is learning to be confident and that will take time, but I do think they will have some good wins going into Pac-12 play and I sense they will be better tomorrow.

Thompson Jr. is an excellent shooter. and Tinkle/Bruce can knock down shots too. Score of the game didn’t even matter to me, I just liked what I saw. GP2 with the nice dunk, Robbins with that nice dunk that got waved off. Cut down on the silly turnovers, get with the threat of the three ball (Robbins doesn’t follow through, did anyone else notice that? He played well but his shot gets to me a bit), but the Beavs will be ok.

That Le’Bryan Nash was a McDonald’s All American, sometimes there’s nothing you can do when a player of that caliber moves to score.

OKla St wins 66-53. reason for the loss. Piss poor shooting. Ok St shot almost 50%, Beavs 33%. There’s your answer. The defense kept them in the game for most of it but couldn’t overcome at the end. Game was lost in the last 10 minutes. It’s tiring exerting that much effort on D when the offense can’t convert. I imagine we will see a lot of this against the better competition this year.

I wasn’t kidding. He’s correct. You can’t shoot like that and lose. We don’t lose this game at home. We might not lose it at oSu either. But the tourney floors and rims can’t be an excuse… even though that’s the reason most of our shots were off. One team had the experience to overcome it, and the other did not.

I think it was tied 44-44, up for grabs with about 8 minutes left. Thin margin of error against major conference teams. If they can keep up the intensity on defense night after night, I don’t see why they can’t win five or six conference games.

It was 44-44 and then Olaf threw up that brick Robbins turned it over and gambled on defense, leading to a bucket. Then Ok State turned up the pressure and the Beavers started to become impatient and lost their composure. Team needs to learn how to start finishing games. Gonna take time for that.

Had to listen to the radio tonight as the game wouldn’t load on my computer, but Tinkle said on his post-game show that they won’t lose 2 in a row and that the inability to withstand the pressure OK St applied was due to inexperience and immaturity and that is getting fixed. He also said that this team MUST do a better job of communicating in order to be successful. Following Auburn-Tulsa now on Twitter and neither of those teams can shoot right now. I feel that you give Tinkle a day of hard practice and preparation, he’ll have these guys ready!!

I was going to answer GB’s post with the same sentiment. We have the talent to compete. We don’t have the experience yet. We will likely be about as good in league as the best CR teams ever were, if not better. We’ll have problems with long teams with depth, like Zony. But then everyone in the country will have trouble with them. I like our chances against guard-star teams. Players like Randle, Young, Wright, Powell and Goss-Williams will have problems. CU is an anomaly so far. Gordon and Johnson look awesome at times, making Booker deadly. But then they can just be flat other nights.

Not really… defense was there, so it’s not a matter of not showing up. It’s just a matter of experience and traveling to unknown and empty arenas. Now that they’ve had that kind of shooting performance, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them comeo out against Auburn pretty warm.

Coincidentally, Tulsa’s only loss was to Oral Roberts. And they beat the Tigers by 18. Can the Beavs beat Auburn based on that? No, but it seems to be a matchup more even since Auburn has scoring issues as well.

Sounds like Auburn is not a very good 3 point shooting team. The Tigers are 2-2 with blowout losses to Colorado in Boulder by 31 and 18 tonight to Tulsa. Wins are over Louisiana-Lafayette and Milwaukee. I don’t know much about them but they don’t appear to be world beaters from what I have read of them

Saw the site, seems to fit my mood! This seems like a nice outlet lol, thanks for bringing it to us.

My big question is do the Beavers players have any idea what this game means and who they are playing? This game SHOULD mean a hell of a lot. Let’s hope coach Riley and his Assistants put this one in the proper prospective.

Brenda Tracy wrote me tonight. I informed her about the DNA statute and she’s going to consider an interview for ABs. She’s thinking over options and such. Nice girl. Hope she is active and takes advantage of DNA evidence if it exists.

The Adam Carolla show was in Portland last weekend. They ripped on duck fans and in particular, this one they saw at the Burbank airport before their trip up north. They were nice enough to take a few pics of the dipshit. This is how she was dressed for travel between LA and Portland on a Friday morning.

Gonna stay like that until Riley retires or is fired. Simply put the Riley era needs to end. Well past time for new beginnings.

By the way I like how the hoops team is playing and especially the defense. When I said they will get at least 3 and probably 4 wins, I wasn’t at all ruling out more but establishing a baseline.

I also said I thought they would have a real chance to win in atleast half their Pac-12 games where they would be in it down the stretch. Say they do that in 10 of 18 Pac-12 games. Well you are going to fall on the wrong side of the ledger on enough of those still. OSU still learning how to finish off teams and earn wins. Confident they will likely get 4 of these 10 but more still could require better offensive rythym.

Defense is huge first step but I also look at where we can improve and by how much we are likely to under pressure. Payton can improve by being a little more foul conscious and making it more of a priority to stay out of any foul trouble. Centers beside Roloft aren’t very natural scorers so limited upside there. Being aware of 3 point shooters and having hands up and pressuring enough so they are tough shots or aren’t taken also would help this team some.

Better team awareness of their strengths on offense and how to get to them more often can help. Some of these are those extra improvements that add up over 40 minutes but in any moment are only small differences so easy to lose focus of. I think 6 conference wins is about the max right now with the kinks that still have to be worked out and the fact that our margin for error isn’t huge. More can be wrung from the onion but the onion isn’t Grade A to begin with.

Do YOU think there is any reasonable chance of us winning the Civil War? What in hell is there to be “excited” about? Ok, maybe interest in how big the loss is, for potential bad AD vibe toward Riley, but anything else? Maybe I am missing something….

I wonder if Riley looks at the the Pelini situation and gives thanks to God every night? Pelini may be an asshole, but he had never won LESS than 9 games in a season and he will mostly likely get his ass fired. Vastly different expectations.